SOURCES OF ENERGY FOR POWER GENERATION
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July 23, 2018
- Posted by: Admin
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BACKGROUND
The source of energy is as important as the power supply. We already know that electric power supply is the most important commodity for national development. With electrical energy, the people are empowered to work from the domestic level and cottage industries, through the small-scale and medium industries to employment in the large-scale manufacturing complexes. Read our previous post.
SOURCES OF ENERGY
Electric power generation may be through one of the following sources of energy:
- Coal, oil or natural gas
- Hydropower (water turbine)
- Nuclear power
- Solar thermal generator
- Solar voltaic generator
Coal, oil, gas and hydropower are abundant in Nigeria. Presently Nigeria mostly employs gas-fired and hydroelectric turbines for bulk generation. This is because oil is too expensive and coal-fired stations have gone moribund. Coal, the progenitor of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, is still the main source of energy in most of the industrialized countries of the world. However, coal-fired stations have the problem of pollution in the emission of carbon gases which deplete the ozone layer thereby causing global warming. Coal is likely to be overtaken by nuclear energy. Nuclear power stations have their problems of hazardous radiation and disposal of radioactive wastes, not to mention sophistication in operation and maintenance.
The most abundant, cleanest and safest energy source is solar power, particularly in the tropical countries. Even though the temperate countries, like France, Denmark and Japan are most advanced in the utilization of solar energy. The tropical countries, like Nigeria, must invest heavily in research and development on the exploitation of solar energy. The viable option is a hybrid system combining wind power as fairly available at day and night, with solar thermal or solar voltaic generation which is available during the day.
OTHER SOURCES
Since solar power is very capital intensive and requires a lot of technology, the next best option in Nigeria is natural gas. Natural gas, because of its clean burning nature, has become a very popular fuel for the generation of electricity. In the 1970s and 1980s, the choices for most electric utility generators were coal or nuclear-powered plants. However, due to economic, environmental and technological changes, natural gas has become the fuel of choice for new power plants. Thankfully, Nigeria has a very generous supply of natural gas (read here).
Natural gas can be used as a fuel in conventional steam boiler generators. New technologies using natural gas as their primary fuel are far more efficient than older combustion technologies.
What energy source do you think LuxxorPower uses to generate electricity?
